Plum Alyonushka: description and characteristics of the variety, cultivation and care, pollinators

Plum variety Alyonushka is a real find for breeders. It occupies more and more areas in garden plots, as it combines a stable annual yield, excellent taste qualities and unpretentious care. Most gardeners choose Alenka, considering it a promising variety.

Variety description

Alenushka plum tree of medium height, 2.5 m high, forms a pyramidal crown of moderate density. Powerful red shoots. The plant is decorated with sharp long foliage, which has a light green color. The leaf plate has a pointed top, small teeth are visible along its edge.Lush, large-sized flowers, collected in an inflorescence of 3 pieces, attract attention. At the time of flowering, the shoots are covered with white flowers.

Alenushka plum variety is valued for its beautiful round fruits. The mass of one fruit is 30-35 g. They have a characteristic red color for this variety with a noticeable wax coating. The skin is very strong, albeit thin. The pulp is characterized by density, juiciness, bright orange tone. Pleases with a pleasant aroma and sweet and sour taste.

The oval-shaped stone hardly moves away from the pulp. The fruits keep well on thick short stalks and do not crack when overripe.

Characteristics of Alyonushka plum

Early ripe table variety - plum Alyonushka, obtained by crossing such varieties of culture as Chinese woman and Red ball. Fruits in the 3rd year after planting. The abundant flowering that occurs in May, even before the formation of the first leaves, delights.The harvest can be carried out already in the first days of August.

Plum Alyonushka is self-fertile, so if there are no suitable pollinators nearby, then there will be few fruits. Best pollinators: Early-fruiting variety, cherry plum, Chinese plum.

Advantages and disadvantages

For a more detailed description of the Alyonushka plum variety, it is important to identify its advantages and disadvantages. Benefits include:

• yield, average 88.6 c/ha;
• taste characteristics of fruits, tasting score - 4.8 points;
• frost resistance, the ability to withstand temperatures down to -40 degrees;
• resistance to crop diseases such as clasterosporiasis, moniliosis;
• marketability of fruits;
• compact size and decorative wood.

Disadvantages of the Alyonushka plum variety:

• self-infertility;
• preparation of the bark at the base of the bole in rainy weather in autumn, and also when it is warm and snowy in winter;
• strong damage to foliage and young shoots of aphids.

How to grow crops

Growing plums is a rather laborious process, but if you make some effort and adhere to all general planting standards, you can get a rich harvest of adored fruits. This requires not only determining the time of planting a tree, but also choosing the right place, preparing planting material and planting.

Time and place for landing

The optimal period for planting Alyonushka plum is early spring before bud break. You can plant in the fall, but do it a month and a half before frost, then the seedlings will have time to take root, and in the spring they will begin to grow intensively.

Plum Alyonushka will feel good in sunny, open areas. The main requirement when choosing a place for this variety is the absence of lowlands where moisture is concentrated. Therefore, a fruit tree should be placed on a hill to avoid debate and rotting of the root neck of the seedling in rainy weather and when the snow melts. Good yields are observed when cultivating seedlings of this variety on neutral fertile soils, characterized by friability and lightness.

Preparation of planting material

Quality planting material - a one-year or two-year-old seedling with a strong, he althy root and a fresh appearance without wilting and obvious damage by diseases, insects. Preparing a seedling of the Alyonushka plum variety consists in pruning damaged and long roots.

Boarding process

Planting seedlings of plum variety Alyonushka includes the following procedure:

1. Make a 50 x 50 x 60 cm planting hole.
2. Introduce a soil mixture consisting of fertile soil, rotted manure, dolomite flour, ash and minerals. Form a low mound.
3. Place the Alyonushka plum seedling on a hill, carefully distributing the roots, and sprinkle with soil substrate. In this case, the root collar should be deepened by 2-3 cm.
4. Irrigate, then tamp and mulch with a layer of up to 10 cm, using peat, humus or compost.

In order for the plant to take root better in the first month after planting, Alyonushka plum seedlings need to be watered more often, preventing the soil from drying out.

How to care for a tree

To get a good harvest, the Alyonushka plum variety needs to be surrounded by care and attention, which consists in carrying out such important activities as compliance with soil moisture conditions, timely application of nutrients, proper pruning and thorough preparation for winter.

Water and fertilize

Water the plant based on weather factors, soil type and age of the plant. Plum variety Alyonushka needs moisture during the growth of the ovaries and during the dry season. In October, carry out water-charging irrigation. After completing the next irrigation, the soil around the tree should be loosened to prevent the formation of a crust.

It is also necessary to ensure the plum of the Alyonushka variety from the moment it enters fruiting with nutrients through foliar and root dressings:

1. In the spring, before budding, using nitrogen fertilizers. Scatter urea over melting snow in the amount of 1 tbsp. l. for 1 m^{2 near the trunk circle. After the ground has thawed, pour over the mullein infusion.}
2. At the stage of budding and before flowering, a complex top dressing containing potassium and phosphorus is required. You can use wood ash.
3. During the flowering period of the Alyonushka plum, foliar top dressing should be carried out using a solution of boric acid, which will stimulate fruit set.
4. After fruiting, in order to improve growth and strengthen roots, maturation of wood and buds, apply mineral fertilizers, which will serve as superphosphate and any potassium s alt that does not contain chlorine.

It is important to remember that proper watering and fertilizing have three main conditions: regularity, timeliness, norm.

Cutting

Cultivation of plum Alyonushka includes such agrotechnical measures as pruning, the purpose of which is to ensure the annual formation of new, strong shoots. Pruning consists in removing dry branches that cross and interfere with one another, growing towards the trunk or down to the ground shoots. Also cut off tops - fattening shoots that grow vertically upwards. Procedures to carry out in the spring before bud break and in the fall, when the leaves fall.

Preparing for winter

To reduce the risk of undercooking of the bark, for the winter, tie the trunks of seedlings of the Alyonushka plum variety with spruce branches. Also in cold weather, the bark of young seedlings is a real delicacy for rodents. You can protect plum trunks and shoots from animals by covering them with burlap, roofing felt or metal mesh.

Diseases and pests

Plum variety Alyonushka demonstrates immunity to diseases, but this trait does not exclude the possibility of infection.

Destruction of diseased fruits

Name of the disease and pest	Description	Control measures
Clusterosporiasis
Moniliosis	The disease is determined by fallen flowers, dried leaves and peduncles, cracked old shoots	Removal of all infected parts of the plant and treatment with copper chloride
Plum Sawfly	The larvae of this insect destroy the still green fruits, eating the seeds and pulp of fruits
Aphids	Pale green insects causing curling of shoots, drying out and falling leaves	Treatment with chemicals that are aimed at the destruction of insects that gnaw foliage

In the fight against diseases and pests, apply both chemical, biological measures and well-organized care.

Collection and storage

In the first decade of August, you can harvest plums of the Alyonushka variety. Fruits are not recommended to be removed after rain, watering, and also in the early morning when dew lies on the plums, but only in dry weather conditions.

The harvested crop cannot be stored for a long time. Plum Alenka is a table variety, it is better to eat it fresh immediately after harvest, and process part of the crop into homemade preparations for the winter. Since the fruits are suitable for jams, compotes.

Plum Alyonushka embodies the best qualities of famous varieties. Its taste qualities are considered significant, characterized by a balance of sugar content and acidity, therefore it is in special demand and very popular.

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